I just got another Plie Wand update email, and it confirms that all new polishes will continue to have the regular square cap that we're used to, not the magnetic cap! Very happy about that! (Just wish they would do something to acknowledge Gypsy Magic's contribution to the design changes!)
Julep Plié Wands: thoughts, rants, raves, confusion, and hopefully not too much panic or expense.
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I can't help but wonder whether Julep had a version of the Plie that worked with the existing caps all along, but threw out the version that would have changed the caps first for two reasons.
One is just to see what the reaction was. If people had been like "OMG, that's the most awesome thing ever and of course, I'll be replacing every polish in my collection with new versions with the new caps" ... well, Julep is a business after all, and they probably would have begun the replacement. Most of you are probably too young to remember replacing ALL of your albums with CDs, or all of your VHS tapes with DVDs, but as someone who did the former herself and has watched in a sort of horrified amazement as her husband did the latter ... and is now, more slowly, replacing DVDs with Blu-Rays, I can tell you that if the change is really good enough, you'll do it.
On the other hand, when the reaction wasn't overwhelmingly "here, take my money and please give me a whole new set of polishes with the awesome new wand," Julep could appear to be responding to customer demand by whipping out a version of the wand that doesn't require any new caps at all. "See, look at how quick we are to respond to customer feedback! Of course we're not going to make you change all of your polishes!"
GypsieMagic's design was terrific and Julep likely could have put a prototype together pretty quickly using it. But I wouldn't be surprised if this back-up plan was always there.
One is just to see what the reaction was. If people had been like "OMG, that's the most awesome thing ever and of course, I'll be replacing every polish in my collection with new versions with the new caps" ... well, Julep is a business after all, and they probably would have begun the replacement. Most of you are probably too young to remember replacing ALL of your albums with CDs, or all of your VHS tapes with DVDs, but as someone who did the former herself and has watched in a sort of horrified amazement as her husband did the latter ... and is now, more slowly, replacing DVDs with Blu-Rays, I can tell you that if the change is really good enough, you'll do it.
On the other hand, when the reaction wasn't overwhelmingly "here, take my money and please give me a whole new set of polishes with the awesome new wand," Julep could appear to be responding to customer demand by whipping out a version of the wand that doesn't require any new caps at all. "See, look at how quick we are to respond to customer feedback! Of course we're not going to make you change all of your polishes!"
GypsieMagic's design was terrific and Julep likely could have put a prototype together pretty quickly using it. But I wouldn't be surprised if this back-up plan was always there.
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Quote: Originally Posted by jennm149 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I can't help but wonder whether Julep had a version of the Plie that worked with the existing caps all along, but threw out the version that would have changed the caps first for two reasons.
One is just to see what the reaction was. If people had been like "OMG, that's the most awesome thing ever and of course, I'll be replacing every polish in my collection with new versions with the new caps" ... well, Julep is a business after all, and they probably would have begun the replacement. Most of you are probably too young to remember replacing ALL of your albums with CDs, or all of your VHS tapes with DVDs, but as someone who did the former herself and has watched in a sort of horrified amazement as her husband did the latter ... and is now, more slowly, replacing DVDs with Blu-Rays, I can tell you that if the change is really good enough, you'll do it.
On the other hand, when the reaction wasn't overwhelmingly "here, take my money and please give me a whole new set of polishes with the awesome new wand," Julep could appear to be responding to customer demand by whipping out a version of the wand that doesn't require any new caps at all. "See, look at how quick we are to respond to customer feedback! Of course we're not going to make you change all of your polishes!"
GypsieMagic's design was terrific and Julep likely could have put a prototype together pretty quickly using it. But I wouldn't be surprised if this back-up plan was always there.
Good point. Didn't they have like 200-some prototypes that were tested thrown out before they settled on the final design? I suppose no matter what the feedback was, they already had a previously nixed version to fall back on. Seems like that's what happened since they "refined" the design so quickly.
I can't help but wonder whether Julep had a version of the Plie that worked with the existing caps all along, but threw out the version that would have changed the caps first for two reasons.
One is just to see what the reaction was. If people had been like "OMG, that's the most awesome thing ever and of course, I'll be replacing every polish in my collection with new versions with the new caps" ... well, Julep is a business after all, and they probably would have begun the replacement. Most of you are probably too young to remember replacing ALL of your albums with CDs, or all of your VHS tapes with DVDs, but as someone who did the former herself and has watched in a sort of horrified amazement as her husband did the latter ... and is now, more slowly, replacing DVDs with Blu-Rays, I can tell you that if the change is really good enough, you'll do it.
On the other hand, when the reaction wasn't overwhelmingly "here, take my money and please give me a whole new set of polishes with the awesome new wand," Julep could appear to be responding to customer demand by whipping out a version of the wand that doesn't require any new caps at all. "See, look at how quick we are to respond to customer feedback! Of course we're not going to make you change all of your polishes!"
GypsieMagic's design was terrific and Julep likely could have put a prototype together pretty quickly using it. But I wouldn't be surprised if this back-up plan was always there.
Good point. Didn't they have like 200-some prototypes that were tested thrown out before they settled on the final design? I suppose no matter what the feedback was, they already had a previously nixed version to fall back on. Seems like that's what happened since they "refined" the design so quickly.
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I agree. I'm certain they had a version like that all along. I'm thinking they wanted to try out the new design hoping that people would be thrilled with the magnetic caps and the way you can store them elegantly on that magnet bar. It is kind of cool after all ... just not something that excites me all that much.
I guess they weren't expecting the magnetic caps to be as strongly rejected and thus decided to go back to the simpler, but in a way more complicated design. Now, we'll have to take off the outside cap and put another one on ... before we could have just snapped the polish and wand right together. I don't think their original decision to change the cap design to a more fancy look & technology was that far off .. it just didn't appeal or they failed to sell it appropriately.
There is simply no way that they didn't come up with this "new" design beforehand as it's the easiest (but not most elegant) thing that comes to mind.
I guess they weren't expecting the magnetic caps to be as strongly rejected and thus decided to go back to the simpler, but in a way more complicated design. Now, we'll have to take off the outside cap and put another one on ... before we could have just snapped the polish and wand right together. I don't think their original decision to change the cap design to a more fancy look & technology was that far off .. it just didn't appeal or they failed to sell it appropriately.
There is simply no way that they didn't come up with this "new" design beforehand as it's the easiest (but not most elegant) thing that comes to mind.
Ok first of all, LOL @kElizascope!
As a designer (not physical products, rather software) I can see how this happened. Most designers are men. Most men don't buy nail polish and have absolutely no idea what happens AFTER we purchase the product and how we "collect" it, hence why I don't think their very "well-known ergonomic design team" saw this as a "flaw". It is surprising that Julep didn't catch this issue (since they should know their target market pretty well...), but they may have thought they could get away with it and make some extra cash on selling new lids, or maybe no one thought it was that big of a deal. Who knows.
Also, another thing, since they have a VC (and I'm sure a giant board of rich old men), we're probably going to continue to see prices increase, "freebies" decrease, and more focus on growing the business rather than on what their Mavens think. Unforunately that tends to be what happens to a lot of "great" businesses that get taken over by venture capitalists. Though I will say - I sure hope I'm wrong! :/
As a designer (not physical products, rather software) I can see how this happened. Most designers are men. Most men don't buy nail polish and have absolutely no idea what happens AFTER we purchase the product and how we "collect" it, hence why I don't think their very "well-known ergonomic design team" saw this as a "flaw". It is surprising that Julep didn't catch this issue (since they should know their target market pretty well...), but they may have thought they could get away with it and make some extra cash on selling new lids, or maybe no one thought it was that big of a deal. Who knows.
Also, another thing, since they have a VC (and I'm sure a giant board of rich old men), we're probably going to continue to see prices increase, "freebies" decrease, and more focus on growing the business rather than on what their Mavens think. Unforunately that tends to be what happens to a lot of "great" businesses that get taken over by venture capitalists. Though I will say - I sure hope I'm wrong! :/
ZeeOmega
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Quote: Originally Posted by hellorigby /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Ok first of all, LOL @kElizascope!
As a designer (not physical products, rather software) I can see how this happened. Most designers are men. Most men don't buy nail polish and have absolutely no idea what happens AFTER we purchase the product and how we "collect" it, hence why I don't think their very "well-known ergonomic design team" saw this as a "flaw". It is surprising that Julep didn't catch this issue (since they should know their target market pretty well...), but they may have thought they could get away with it and make some extra cash on selling new lids, or maybe no one thought it was that big of a deal. Who knows.
Also, another thing, since they have a VC (and I'm sure a giant board of rich old men), we're probably going to continue to see prices increase, "freebies" decrease, and more focus on growing the business rather than on what their Mavens think. Unforunately that tends to be what happens to a lot of "great" businesses that get taken over by venture capitalists. Though I will say - I sure hope I'm wrong! :/
Actually, judging from the press release dated from about a year ago, their board consists of approximately six members with half of them being female. The CEO and COO positions are also held by women and the third female led marketing with Zynga, so I imagine she has a lot of input with how things are presented to the customers. And one would be hard pressed to call any of them old. Most of their board will have had experience with a growing business in recent years (i.e. Zillow, SkullCandy, Zynga).
http://www.julep.com/funding-announcement
They may of course have expanded the board since that release.
Ok first of all, LOL @kElizascope!
As a designer (not physical products, rather software) I can see how this happened. Most designers are men. Most men don't buy nail polish and have absolutely no idea what happens AFTER we purchase the product and how we "collect" it, hence why I don't think their very "well-known ergonomic design team" saw this as a "flaw". It is surprising that Julep didn't catch this issue (since they should know their target market pretty well...), but they may have thought they could get away with it and make some extra cash on selling new lids, or maybe no one thought it was that big of a deal. Who knows.
Also, another thing, since they have a VC (and I'm sure a giant board of rich old men), we're probably going to continue to see prices increase, "freebies" decrease, and more focus on growing the business rather than on what their Mavens think. Unforunately that tends to be what happens to a lot of "great" businesses that get taken over by venture capitalists. Though I will say - I sure hope I'm wrong! :/
Actually, judging from the press release dated from about a year ago, their board consists of approximately six members with half of them being female. The CEO and COO positions are also held by women and the third female led marketing with Zynga, so I imagine she has a lot of input with how things are presented to the customers. And one would be hard pressed to call any of them old. Most of their board will have had experience with a growing business in recent years (i.e. Zillow, SkullCandy, Zynga).
http://www.julep.com/funding-announcement
They may of course have expanded the board since that release.
Good points @ZeeOmega, I hadn't done much reading about specifics of their funding (had only known about JayZ's Rocnation) and am pleasantly surprised with the young and mostly female based leaders.
Doesn't change the fact that many times when VC firms work with companies, they want to see a big return on investment which unfortunately tends to come at consumer's expense in terms of what we we've grown used to (perks and discounts). As a woman in tech, I'm used to it mostly being a male-based industry (I think its about 80/20) and am glad to see that 20% growing.
/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />
Doesn't change the fact that many times when VC firms work with companies, they want to see a big return on investment which unfortunately tends to come at consumer's expense in terms of what we we've grown used to (perks and discounts). As a woman in tech, I'm used to it mostly being a male-based industry (I think its about 80/20) and am glad to see that 20% growing.
/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />
ZeeOmega
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Quote: Originally Posted by hellorigby /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Good points @ZeeOmega, I hadn't done much reading about specifics of their funding (had only known about JayZ's Rocnation) and am pleasantly surprised with the young and mostly female based leaders.
Doesn't change the fact that many times when VC firms work with companies, they want to see a big return on investment which unfortunately tends to come at consumer's expense in terms of what we we've grown used to (perks and discounts). As a woman in tech, I'm used to it mostly being a male-based industry (I think its about 80/20) and am glad to see that 20% growing. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />
Oh, I agree that it's easy for a company to lose sight when ROI is the guiding principle. I just thought we needed to shake loose from the misperception of what kind of people were guiding the company. Plus, it's not fair to old men. They can't help no longer being young nor ever having been female.
Good points @ZeeOmega, I hadn't done much reading about specifics of their funding (had only known about JayZ's Rocnation) and am pleasantly surprised with the young and mostly female based leaders.
Doesn't change the fact that many times when VC firms work with companies, they want to see a big return on investment which unfortunately tends to come at consumer's expense in terms of what we we've grown used to (perks and discounts). As a woman in tech, I'm used to it mostly being a male-based industry (I think its about 80/20) and am glad to see that 20% growing.
/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />Oh, I agree that it's easy for a company to lose sight when ROI is the guiding principle. I just thought we needed to shake loose from the misperception of what kind of people were guiding the company. Plus, it's not fair to old men. They can't help no longer being young nor ever having been female.
@ZeeOmega Haha, very true, and I'm betting is the reason they aren't on their board or funding their company!
gypsiemagic
Grace
Quote: Originally Posted by kElizascope /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Quote: Originally Posted by gypsiemagic /img/forum/go_quote.gif
hmm, is it weird i was hoping they would reach out and say thanks for contributing, we loved your idea, actually we loved it so much we used it /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />
A little; only in that you're kind enough to ONLY expect that!
I think it's wrong they didn't reach out to say
Thanks for contributing. We claimed we paid a top design firm that specializes in ergonomics, and of course we have all of us with business and "connection" specializations on our end, and that we went through eleventy billion redesigns, but for some reason, we forgot to hire anyone with a damn lick of common sense. We are so grateful that someone with no financial stake in this came through and did the final redesign, for FREE, that apparently no one on this whole team for 58 gazillion dollars could figure out: the incompetent solutions design firm should hire you to fill the gap they obviously have, but, short of that, we'd at least like to offer two or thirty plies to "connect" with your girlfriends and name a color after you.
I mean, it was a far smaller leap from your drawing to their design change (which--let's be honest--COULD make the difference in their company survival: I'm NOT someone who cared much one way or the other, but I suspect that, had the resulting "maven bleed" been even a fraction of those who claimed they'd leave, coupled with the fallout from what I would think HAD to be a far greater production cost to put goddamn magnets on EVERY bottle of nail polish vs. making it an add-on option at both the maven and retail ends) than it was from the little kid who glued swatch nails to the top of her bottles to making the swatch stickers, and they made her a mini-Julep-celebrity (and, indeed, based on the reaction at this point, the swatch stickers did indeed help add to the loyalty many seemed to feel toward the design, so their showing their appreciation to her inspiration turned out to be both appropriate and probably a good business move).
Maybe you could put your hair in pigtails in your profile pic? I don't know how old you are, but you look pretty young anyway; if the had a lick of damn sense--which they've already shown, at least wrt this rollout, that they do not--they'd use the opportunity to show their appreciation TO YOU, w/o it costing them almost anything, as another marketing op: Meet the young maven who helped saveour business your cohesive Julep collection and, for the special Maven price of only $11.20, complete with add-on Plie cap, buy a new bottle of the beautiful new polish named in her honor, Gypsie Magic. You know that, since she helped design it, it won't even drip down the bottle and ruin your mani (it's like magic! And ... well ... most $0.99-$9.99 bottles of polish. Ssssh)."
But, ya know, I guess if they aren't going to pay you* or give you a job or free shit and a special Gypsie polish for making their product not suck and keeping the Facebook crazies calm, a thank you note would be appropriate to hope for.
*By the way, at first, my reaction was that their design change seemed to be what a LOT of people suggested (either as a true "do it this way to improve it" suggestion or an inability to read/comprehend misunderstanding). But, seeing the video now, even if many others said/thought/wanted it like that (myself included, which makes one questions why on earth that wasn't done to begin with if it IS possible: I assumed that, since they WEREN'T, that there must be some design reason it couldn't work that way, as it seemed like such a more obvious move than the absurd, convoluted, and alienating process through which they were going. But, as they now ARE doing it, that's clearly not the case ...), YOU are the one who almost immediately drew up an image and posted it, not only online but on THEIR [through their own evidence, highly used for feedback and response] facebook page. Shoulda patented that thing So, yeah, a "thanks, and May is on us" is the least they can do."
Yea, I was thinking about the swatch sticker girl when I wrote that, it's okay though, admittedly I am probably not as adorable as a little girl making a youtube video. I would have loved even a PM, if not a shout out.
I think they have a Grace polish, it's probably "ballet slipper pink" like they all always are :/ If I could make a Gypsie it would be a thermal changing polish, because I think those are creative and unique, just like me /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />
Two years ago I gave them the idea of offering all the polishes each month in mini form during a live chat, they even responded saying they loved the idea. I included this picture:
Well they introduced the upgrades soon after, and more recently they offered the mini bottles.
I am like a secret julep product developer.
Quote: Originally Posted by gypsiemagic /img/forum/go_quote.gif
hmm, is it weird i was hoping they would reach out and say thanks for contributing, we loved your idea, actually we loved it so much we used it
/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />A little; only in that you're kind enough to ONLY expect that!
I think it's wrong they didn't reach out to say
Thanks for contributing. We claimed we paid a top design firm that specializes in ergonomics, and of course we have all of us with business and "connection" specializations on our end, and that we went through eleventy billion redesigns, but for some reason, we forgot to hire anyone with a damn lick of common sense. We are so grateful that someone with no financial stake in this came through and did the final redesign, for FREE, that apparently no one on this whole team for 58 gazillion dollars could figure out: the incompetent solutions design firm should hire you to fill the gap they obviously have, but, short of that, we'd at least like to offer two or thirty plies to "connect" with your girlfriends and name a color after you.
I mean, it was a far smaller leap from your drawing to their design change (which--let's be honest--COULD make the difference in their company survival: I'm NOT someone who cared much one way or the other, but I suspect that, had the resulting "maven bleed" been even a fraction of those who claimed they'd leave, coupled with the fallout from what I would think HAD to be a far greater production cost to put goddamn magnets on EVERY bottle of nail polish vs. making it an add-on option at both the maven and retail ends) than it was from the little kid who glued swatch nails to the top of her bottles to making the swatch stickers, and they made her a mini-Julep-celebrity (and, indeed, based on the reaction at this point, the swatch stickers did indeed help add to the loyalty many seemed to feel toward the design, so their showing their appreciation to her inspiration turned out to be both appropriate and probably a good business move).
Maybe you could put your hair in pigtails in your profile pic? I don't know how old you are, but you look pretty young anyway; if the had a lick of damn sense--which they've already shown, at least wrt this rollout, that they do not--they'd use the opportunity to show their appreciation TO YOU, w/o it costing them almost anything, as another marketing op: Meet the young maven who helped save
But, ya know, I guess if they aren't going to pay you* or give you a job or free shit and a special Gypsie polish for making their product not suck and keeping the Facebook crazies calm, a thank you note would be appropriate to hope for.
*By the way, at first, my reaction was that their design change seemed to be what a LOT of people suggested (either as a true "do it this way to improve it" suggestion or an inability to read/comprehend misunderstanding). But, seeing the video now, even if many others said/thought/wanted it like that (myself included, which makes one questions why on earth that wasn't done to begin with if it IS possible: I assumed that, since they WEREN'T, that there must be some design reason it couldn't work that way, as it seemed like such a more obvious move than the absurd, convoluted, and alienating process through which they were going. But, as they now ARE doing it, that's clearly not the case ...), YOU are the one who almost immediately drew up an image and posted it, not only online but on THEIR [through their own evidence, highly used for feedback and response] facebook page. Shoulda patented that thing
So, yeah, a "thanks, and May is on us" is the least they can do." Yea, I was thinking about the swatch sticker girl when I wrote that, it's okay though, admittedly I am probably not as adorable as a little girl making a youtube video. I would have loved even a PM, if not a shout out.
I think they have a Grace polish, it's probably "ballet slipper pink" like they all always are :/ If I could make a Gypsie it would be a thermal changing polish, because I think those are creative and unique, just like me
/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />Two years ago I gave them the idea of offering all the polishes each month in mini form during a live chat, they even responded saying they loved the idea. I included this picture:
Well they introduced the upgrades soon after, and more recently they offered the mini bottles.
I am like a secret julep product developer.
